It's a Cold and It's a Broken H a l l e l u j a h
by Project Zombie Shitstorm
Summary: Say, what if Trip's community was never attacked by slavers after they took her? And if Monkey really did meet her father? He has a longer history with the quaint little town than he thinks, and it's not a friendly one. Tripitaka/Monkey/Mark
1. What will you do?

"At this rate, we'll reach my community by mid-day." Tripitaka smiled whistfully and leaned back on the log, watching the fire in front of her dance and throw shadows across the ground. The darkening sky had no effect on the young woman's optimism, her mind filled with finally seeing her family and friends and her community. However, a small thought plagued her conscious and has been growing since she left the city.

_This means…. Monkey will leave…_

She glanced over at him, sitting on a stump a foot from her. His face was carefully blank, the way he gets when he's lost in thought. _Memories from his own home, perhaps?  
><em>She bit her lip, rocking her legs slightly.

_What would he say if…._

She decided to go ahead and ask him, despite what his reaction might be.

"What will you do when we get there?" She murmured, keeping her eyes locked on the fire. "After I take the headband off?" She paused before adding with a small smile, "Apart from break my neck, I mean."

Monkey didn't even seem to notice. His eyes were staring into the fire as if it held some other significance, one that which Tripitaka was unaware of.

"Go back, I guess."

Her shoulders slumped and she looked at her lap. _He'd leave… Of course he'd leave. What do you think he'd do? Stay around and be your personal bodyguard?_

"Go back where?"

Monkey was silent for a moment. He hadn't taken his eyes off the fire since they built it. Finally, he sighed. "Wherever. Depends where I can find food and fuel."  
>He seemed to sense her disappointment and quickly continued. "I-I usually keep moving."<p>

Truth was, he wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to his companion yet. Despite his rough exterior, living alone in the wilds certainly came with a price. Loneliness was one of them. Monkey wasn't usually bothered by it. He kept himself busy, constantly doing errands for traders just to keep his mind from wandering. Besides, he was considered as a feral beast to some people. He just decided he'd cope with being alone, but his heart had other plans.

"Y-You could….. probably stay…."

Trip's hesitant voice made him briefly glance up, only to find that she had her head turned away from him, hiding the embarrassed flush on her cheeks.

"If you wanted…"

She saw him looking over at her from the corner of her eye and her head shot up, panic flashing in her eyes, feeling as if she'd made a mistake.

"I-I'm just saying…. After my father hears about all you've done for me, I know he'll offer you a home."

Both of them were now staring at the fire once more, the silence stretching between them was almost so thick she could choke.

"If that's what you want." She finished, not daring to say anything else in worry she might've upset him.

Monkey still didn't say anything and Tripitaka didn't push him to answer.

He let his mind drift off, thinking about what it would be like to live in a community once more. He could could still remember how it was to live in a community even though he'd spent his entire life trying to bury it. He knew it had been, well, relatively peaceful. He did come from a tribe a warriors, though he'd always been more interested in exploring than fighting. It was something he learned to rely on when he was on his own, yet fighting for his survival had become a large part of his life. But despite the wars, it had been a nice place to live. Still, the sound of sirens and screaming, of metal crunching and fire greedily consuming their homes still remained a fresh memory in his mind.

Monkey heaved a sigh. That was in the past and it should stay that way, if he knew what's best. However, the thought of taking up the girl's offer and the possibility that _what if the slavers came back_ rattled his mind and he was sure he was wholly unprepared to face that again, even if he was just a spectator this time around.

Trip looked at up at the sky, wondering how her parents, Vedes and Ramanyana, would react to her bringing home a handsome, athletic, and completely ripped man. Torah, her sister, would be jealous, that's for sure. Upanishad would go into protective-big-brother-mode, most likely. She absently smiled as she watched the scene play out in her head. Would Gita, her shy yet vicious little cat, approve of him? She chuckled to herself at the image of the small feline latching onto Monkey's face.

_It'll all work out well, _She told herself with a nod and staring into the dying flames for the 30th time that night. Soon, a yawn forced itself out of her which seemed to snap Monkey out of his trance.

"You're tired. You should sleep."

Tripitaka looked up. "Huh? Ah, no thanks…" She was cut off by another yawn and left gazing sheepishly at him.

"Sleep." He said more forcefully. "I'll take watch." Monkey stood to throw another piece of wood onto the fire, and settled himself against the base of the tree. It wasn't long before the red head's shoulder slumped in exhaustion and her eyes fluttered shut to welcome the darkness creeping at the edges of her vision.

**A/N:**

**THAT'S RIGHT I'M DOING A RE-WRITE OF THIS SHIT.**  
><strong>Because Enslaved has captured my attention once more and woo-ed me with Monkey's amazing shirtless glory.<strong>

**Ahem.**  
><strong>Anyway.<strong>

**I looked at this story and after reading the first chapter, I was like **_"Huh. I should really continue this."_** then I read the second chapter and thought **_"Wow. Second thought, this needs to be re-written. I think I was brain dead when I posted this."_** I couldn't even remember where the damn storyline was going! So I changed it up a bit, re-did Monkey's past and conflict with Trip's village, switched up the events in my head, dropped alot and added something else to suit my need of 50% fluff and 50% angst. **

**Or something like that. **

**SO. Next chapter's coming up soon as well as a two-shot thing I'm doing. Could be a one-shot. Who knows.**

**Peace, love, and reviews.**


	2. That's enough about Mark

The watchtower had always had the most beautiful view of the fair sized community. One could see the joyful, bustling shops, the playgrounds that never seemed to be abandoned, the gathering place in the center of town, all the way to the giant windmill that generated the city's power. No watch shift could ever be boring, not with a view like this. The only pain was getting passed Mark's many bridges.

Said person sat back in lookout post 9 with his hand behind his head ad feet propped lazily on the desk. Technically, Mark wasn't a guard, but after repairing the broken bridges that were damaged in the slaver attack, he couldn't bring himself to walk all the way back to his home and decided to hang out with Flynn, the current sundown guard.

"-and I had to run back to Carmin's _again_ to grease the cables! Not to mention the bolts. Almost every single one of them were rusted! I could _not_ work like that! SO, I-"  
>"Mark." Flynn finally cut in, rubbing his temple, "Please, for the sake of my sanity and your own well being, stop talking." The guard's companion laughed cheekily. "Alright, I'm sorry. Long story short, I was lazy." He leaned back and yawned. "But did you have to steal my chair?" Sure, it was an old lawn chair that had certainly seen better days, but it was also the only thing they could haul up there with ease. "Ah, but you have to please your guest!" Mark beamed with a slightly smug grin. "Guest? I didn't even invite-"<p>

A sudden shrill keen from the frequency detector cut off his argument.

"Move." Flynn pushed the moppy brown haired nuisance aside and grabbed at the transmitting device. "This is lookout 9 radioing in for some unidentified machinery detected by the main gate. Is someone down there?"  
>"Watch tower 8, ah... I'm picking up on something too. Could you get someone down there?"<p>

Before Flynn had a chance to call for the patrol team near him, Mark jumped to his feet in excitement. "I'll go!" The flaming red head shot him down with a look, one hand over the mic. "It could be Mechs. Or Slavers." But Mark only shrugged, unfazed. "I doubt it. They would have blown something up by now." He scrambled over to the ladder. "Be right back!" He waved with Flynn yelling obscenities at him from the railing.

Trip could only squirm in excitement as the bike tore up the worn dirt path to the main entrance gate. When the opening in the rock loomed closer, she had to stop herself from jumping off right there. "Stop here!" She breathed out, "Stop here, this is it!"

The machine rumbled to a stop just in from of the suspended bridge and Monkey cut the engine. "You can't go any further or it'll trigger the defense system..." Trip let her explanation trail off as she gingerly stepped off the bike. She could hear people talking and laughing and she suddenly such a relief she wanted to sob. She was plagued by the nagging image of coming home to her whole village destroyed... But Monkey was wrong, they had managed to hold their own.  
>She wondered how much it had changed.<br>"I can't... I can't believe we actually made it!" Monkey raised an eyebrow at the suggestion that he wasn't a good enough body guard, but Trip didn't seem to notice. "My father can be a little weird about strangers so just-" she laughed and tugged at the large man's arm, "Just let me do all the talking, okay?" He relented, not wishing to dim her optimism. They had only walked a few paces when yelling from the path on the left made his female companion look up in shock. "Hey! Heeey!" A pause. "Trip? Is that you?" The figure scrambled down the stone steps and waved. "Oh my gosh..." Her sea green eyes widened. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. "Mark?"

She had enough time to turn before he grabbed her around her waist and, lifted her up and spun her around. "I can't believe you made it back!" Mark laughed and put her down at her shrill protest of the sudden attack. "We all thought you were gone for good! Man, is it good to see your okay." He looked her up and down, noting a few scratches here and there, but otherwise uninjured and nodded to himself. "I never thought I would make it back here." Trip admitted. The bridge builder gave her a quizzical look. "So how did you?"

Trip turned to find her journey's companion not by the bridge, but leaning against the rock face, partially concealed from view. She waved him over. "Mark, I want you to meet Monkey. He helped me after the slave ship crashed and managed to get me through the Old City in one piece." Now, the young man noticed the towering muscle mountain of a man and tensed, clearly taken aback. "And Monkey, this is Mark, our bridge builder." Cold blue eyes scrutinized the lanky kid and he nodded in recognition. The sun's last rays hit the metal of the headband and Mark blinked. "Is that-"

"As much as I'm sure you two would like to catch up, I'm sure Trip would like to go see her parents." Monkey cut him off, voice flat and eyebrows raised in a prompting gesture. "Y-Yeah, you're right. But first, we should stop by the lookout post and check in with Flynn. We saw some weird frequency on the radio," He eyed Monkey's bike and headband critically, "and I was sent down here to check it out." Mark beamed, leading the duo up the stoney path. "You were sent?" The red head asked skeptically, to which he replied with a sheepish smile. "Well, I volunteered. Without his permission." He cleared his throat. "Regardless, I'm sure he'll be happy to see that you're safe and sound."

Monkey was only half listening as the two rattled on about village affairs, doing his best to tune out Tripitaka's voice which was _inside his goddamn head_. So he turned his focus to the small wind farm community below them. He could see the distant figures of people bustling below them, going about their daily lives without a care in the world. There were many different coloured light sparkling from shop roofs and twined around porches. He noticed the same little jar lights strung across the railings. In the background, a large metal windmill spun lazily near the edge of the cliff with one sail open.

"Who else was taken?" Trip was asking as Mark operated the bridge puzzles with his wrist tech. "Kar, Sen, Marla, Daryl, Catherine, Glenn and Rein." He sighed heavily, not wishing to dwell too long on those depressing thoughts. Trip lowered her eyes for a moment with a soft "Oh." Everyone in the village knew each other, to some extent, and any loss was felt by all.

Rein had grown up with her and lived not too far away; they had used to play together as kids. Catherine ran the bake shop by the gathering point. She had always talked to the middle aged woman when stopping by. She had only spoke with Daryl and Glenn a few times. You wouldn't know they were twins, how different they were, but they generally secluded themselves from the others. "They almost got Wren too," Mark trailed on, "but she got away thanks to your father and Upanishad." Trip breathed out a sigh of relief. Wren was her father's friend's nine year old daughter. "Those who were killed were commemorated in the town center. Thankfully, the list is relatively short." Mark scowled. "But there shouldn't _be_ a list. Damn Mechs." He cursed bitterly.

They had hardly noticed that they had already reached the watch tower. It was only then that Mark perked up. "Oi, Flynn! Look who's back!" He pushed himself onto the platform, followed by the other two. The guard grinned and gave her one-armed hug. "Good to see you back, Trip! And, ah, who's this?" He blinked in surprise at their visitor. "This is Monkey, I'll tell you about him later. Can you bring up the zip line?" Trip was giddy from finally being able to see her home once more, making her impatient. "Yeah, yeah, give me a sec."

Trip turned to find Monkey leaning against the railing, practically sensing his obvious discomfort. Coming from someone who was alone most of his life and grew up in the wild, she wasn't too surprised.

"Nice view." Monkey remarked softly, noticing her gaze focused on his back.  
>"Yeah.."<p>

Silence.

"What's wrong? You seem… tense." Trip glanced side-long at him, curiosity bright in her eyes.  
>"I think this is a bad idea. Why don't you just take the headband off and go meet your family?"<br>"I want them to meet you!" She insisted. "Why do you want to leave so soon?"  
>"I've got a bad feeling…" Monkey murmured softly. Tripitaka shook her head, her mind made up. "Come on. Everything's going to be fine. Look," She grabbed his hand and tugged him to where the zip line was. "That's it."<p>

"Come on!" Mark waved them over. "We're taking the fun way into town!"  
>Monkey wasn't amused.<br>"Something tells me you're lying."

**A/N:**

**HAY GUYS.**

**I'll try to keep updates consistent, but I seriously need your input on this. Am I wasting my time doing this or are you actually enjoying this?**  
><strong>HELLO? I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE. I CAN HEAR YOU METABOLIZING OXYGEN AND EXPELLING CARBON DIOXIDE.<strong>

**So yeah. I only have time to write this in Health class, which I use as a study hall. BARE WITH ME.**

**I'm also very conflicted with a major event concerning Monkey and Trip's father butting heads and hating each other at first sight. So, it might take a while to sort out and make everything fit.**

**I STILL WANT YOUR FEEDBACK DAMMIT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE ANON. **


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